


The Pyjama Chronicles

by lha



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:34:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lha/pseuds/lha
Summary: A series of little vignettes focusing on Stamets & Culber, often (but not always) in their PJs.
Relationships: Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets
Comments: 14
Kudos: 65





	1. Fluff & Nonsense

“Oi! Fluff & Nonsense!” Reno’s voice called out across the mess hall.

“I think she means you two,” Tilly said, giving them a pointed look before shifting her gaze past Paul’s shoulder.

“If we ignore her,” Paul began in a staged whisper. “Maybe she’ll go away.” Hugh rolled his eyes, before turning to look at Reno.

“Morning Jett. Join us?”

“Well since you’ve asked,” she said, slinging herself into a chair.

“So,” Tilly said, leaning in close to Jett. “Which one’s ‘Fluff’?”

“He is,” Hugh said at almost exactly the same time as Paul said, “Hugh. Obviously.”

“I mean…” Tilly said conspiratorially, “it could be either of them. Dr Culber is fluffy and lovely but with a core of steel. Commander Stamets is all prickly on the outside but that’s just to protect his inner teddy bear. ”

“I do not have an ‘inner teddy bear’,” Paul protested, attacking his french toast with vigour. “I am tirelessly driven and unrelenting in my expectations of others.

“I don’t know,” Adira piped up quietly. “You were ah… pretty nice to me, when I arrived.”

“I was not ‘nice’. I was interested in what you were hiding.”

“I’m sure you’re very nice too Doctor Culber,” they continued, blushing.

“Oh my fluff is only skin deep,” Hugh said, spearing a cube of mellon. He ate it trying not to smile too broadly at Paul’s continued blustering.

“They’re both ‘fluff’ and ‘nonsense’," Jett declared her mouth full. "And that, my dear friends, is the joy of the thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as always for reading - please know that a kudos and/or a comment means the world!
> 
> LHA x  
> @LHA_Again


	2. Socks

“Have you seen my socks?” Paul called from the other room.

“What socks?” Hugh asked absently, not looking up from the report he was determined to finish reading before he had to get dressed for the start of his shift.

“The ones I like to wear when I’m wearing a suit.” Hugh looked up at this. 

“Are you planning on being somewhere where you need to wear an environmental suit today?”

“Maybe. Who knows.” Hugh listened to more sounds of searching. 

“Have you tried the drawer?” he asked, resisting the urge just to get up and go and find them. Paul stuck his head out of the bedroom door,

“No of course I haven’t checked the drawer where we keep all the socks.” Hugh put down his PADD and looked at his partner.

“Well if they’re not in the drawer or the refresher then they’ll be wherever you abandoned them the last time you wore them.”

“Well I don’t remember when that was, so that’s not very helpful.”

“You can’t remember when you were last in an evo suit?” Hugh asked, suspecting that there was more going on here.

“I barely ever get out of the lab these days, never mind the ship so it must have been an age ago.” And there it was, grumpy face, folded arms and the air of _’I’m just about to stomp my foot at you’_. Hugh stood up and crossed the space between them. 

“You’re a valuable asset,” he said, tilting his head to catch Paul’s eye. “You know that keeping you safe is going to take priority over your value on a high risk away team.”

“I know.” Hugh let the silence sit between them watching as Paul played with the sleeve of his pyjama top. “Saru wants us to re-focus on finding an alternative navigation method for the spore drive.”

“Well, you know my feelings on that,” Hugh said, leaning in and taking hold of Paul’s inner forearms, just below the elbow. Paul took hold of his elbows in turn so that their forearms were pressed together, the polymer of his augmentations trapped between them.

“How did we get here?” Paul asked quietly.

“That question is too big for this time in the morning,” he replied, his thumbs rubbing gentle circles through the soft fabric of Paul’s sleeves. “Particularly when we’re both due at work. But I will tell you this. I love you. You are worth more than your accomplishments and your value to this crew doesn’t rest solely on your being an essential component to the spore drive.”

Paul’s fingers flexed around Hugh’s elbows before he pulled him in to bury his nose in the crook of Hugh’s neck. They held each other tight for several moments before something in Paul seemed to release. 

“I think I put them in my overnight bag.”

“Your socks?” Hugh asked.

“Hmm.”

“No…” Hugh said with a dry chuckle. “I’m not even asking. We need to get going.”

“Hmm.”

“Paul.”

“What? M’comfy.”

“I love you, too,” he pressed a gentle kiss on his husband’s temple before shrugging his shoulders to try and dislodge the other man’s arms.

“Lunch?” Paul asked.

“Of course,” Hugh said, stripping out of his sleepwear and pulling out a fresh white uniform.

“I’ll see you in the mess then,” Paul said, before he headed into the shower.

On impulse, once he was dressed Hugh pulled the kit bag off the top shelf of their wardrobe. Unfastening the clasp, he opened it and stalled at what he found. The socks were there, along with a collection of other items he’d chosen for Paul over the years. Not the big things, barely even gifts, just things he’d seen when he was scrolling through the database and had fabricated on a whim; a tee in a blue that had brought out his eyes, a scarf to keep a non-existent draft off his neck and a mug with a dinosaur that said _tea-rexistential crisis_. He hadn’t noticed any of them were missing when he’d moved back into their quarters. 

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Hugh placed the bag on the bed. Picking up the PADD he’d abandoned earlier he headed out to face the day, another reminder of how lucky they both were to have come back to each other fresh in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you too would like a Tea-Rexistential Crisis mug you can have one!  
> https://shopdinosaur.com/collections/mugs-1/products/tea-rexistential-crisis
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed and I'd love to hear your thoughts :)  
> LHA x  
> @LHA_again


	3. Board Certified

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by Hugh identifying as 'Board Certified' in S3:E8 The Sanctuary

Paul drifted closer to the surface of sleep and rolled over, flinging an arm out to pull Hugh closer. Instead of well toned muscles and warm skin however he only found cold sheets and this was enough to nudge him into reluctant wakefulness.

“Time?” he grumbled forgetting that they were in private quarters. Peeling one of his eyes open he looked at the clock waiting for it to come into focus. Three forty-seven. With a sigh, Paul threw the covers back and rolled himself into a sitting position and rubbing his face headed through to the living room.

Leaning in the doorway he watched Hugh for a couple of minutes before he cleared his throat. “What happened to, ‘Just a half hour more’?”

“Hmmm?” he said looking up. “Oh… I suppose I lost track of time,” he said gesturing to the padds littering the table.

“A likely story,” he said, crossing over to hug Hugh from behind. “Come on, bed time. Better late than never.”

“It’s hardly worth it at this point. I’ll finish going over these notes and then I’ll hit the gym.”

“The exam isn’t until fourteen-hundred doesn’t it?” Paul asked, swaying gently and bringing Hugh with him. “Definitely worth getting some sleep before then. You’ve got this.”

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Hugh said, leaning back into Paul’s embrace. Paul hadn’t known Hugh when he had been at the Academy, but he was slightly surprised to see this side of the other man.

“You’ve already qualified Hugh, you are a ranking Starfleet officer as well as a qualified doctor.”

“I’m not Board Certified,” he said with a weary sigh.

“You’re Starfleet certified.”

“It’s not the same,” he almost whined. “Not to the rest of the medical community.”

“But they wouldn’t stop you working as a doctor though.” It was a statement because Hugh had told him as much when he’d originally floated the idea of putting himself through the Earth Medical Boards. “It’s an optional extra. And when you decided you were going to do it, you didn’t know that you were going to be posted on a ship at the edge of Federation space providing aid to a pandemic stricken planet for nine months of the intervening year.”

It hadn’t been easy to say goodbye when Hugh had been shipped off, and their flat had been strange and uninviting without him. When he returned from the mission though, it was harder still. Hugh had fallen into his arms and cried until there was nothing left and Paul had been left trying to put the pieces back together. His work and it’s frustrations, elations and despairs seemed like nothing in comparison to what Hugh and his fellow crew had faced. Paul was committed to his own work and would never want Hugh to turn down an opportunity but he was shaken by how strong the conviction he had, and still had, that this was the last time he wanted them to be parted like that again.

“I know that I know this stuff…” Hugh admitted quietly. 

“Well then,” Paul said, pausing to kiss the crown of his head. “Come to bed. I’ll make it worth your while…”

“Are you trying to seduce me?” Hugh asked with a chuckle. 

“Is it working?” Paul asked. 

“My mind is running at several light years an hour…”

“Well in that case, it may interest you to know that I restocked the jars in the bedside table…” he said stepping away and offering Hugh a hand leaving the option of a massage or a distraction on the table.

“Have I ever told you that I love you?” Hugh said, taking his hand and allowing Paul to pull him upright and in the direction of the bedroom.

“Once or twice. You know I enjoy it though.”

“I really do.” Hugh stopped, tugging at Paul's leading arm until he turned back to look at him. “I really love you Paul.” Not entirely sure how to respond, Paul leaned in and kissed the other man. “Marry me?” Hugh murmured against his lips. “I don’t want to ever have to do this sort of nonsense without you again. Marry me?”

“Only if you’re Board Certified,” Paul said with a straight face. 

“You…!” Hugh slapped him across the arm and chased him as Paul made a run for the bedroom.

The next day, Hugh passed his Earth Boards and they were married six months later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as ever for reading and as always I'd love to hear your thoughts!  
> LHA x  
> @LHA_again


	4. Starfleet Issued

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a reason for wearing uniform pyjamas.

“I have never been more humiliated in my life,” Paul groaned.

“Don’t complain to me,” Hugh said, tidying away the equipment that he’d been using. “I keep telling you that you need to wear pyjamas now you’re stationed on board.”

“How was I supposed to know someone was going to decompress the section next to our quarters in the middle of the night?!” Paul said, throwing a hand vaguely up in the air.

“These things happen in space,” Hugh said mildly. “There’s a reason why we’re issued with uniform sleepwear.”

“Well yes, it does seem obvious now.” 

“So…” he asked, turning to look at him.

“Well I’m currently standing in a public area wearing nothing but a sheet, so I could use your help.”

“Are you really? I’m currently in my uniform and trying to work...”

“Hugh…”

“You can stay here if you like? I’ll even put up a privacy screen,” he offered with a half smile. 

“I need to go check on my mushrooms, they’re still delicate after the transfer,” Paul said with a frown.

“And…”

“I can’t do that in a sheet!”

“Well what would you like me to do about it?” Hugh asked, knowing he was just being obtuse.

“My access codes don’t work on the replicators in the medical bays.”

“Neither they do…”

“Please Hugh, would you replicate me a uniform. And some underwear.”

“Well, since you’ve asked so nicely,” Hugh said with a smile. “Payment in advance please.”  
Paul leant in to kiss him thoroughly. “Your payment has been accepted, one crisp new uniform coming up.” Hugh crossed to the nearest replicator and pulled up their account and selected the specs saved there.

“Thank you kindly, Dear Doctor,” Paul said, when Hugh picked up the replicated garments.

“You do look delightful in that sheet,” Hugh pointed out, holding back from handing the bundle over. Blushing, Paul reached out,

“Yes well, I’m not sure the emergency response team were quite so appreciative of my being buck naked as you traditionally are.” Hugh lost the battle he’d been fighting since Paul had walked through the medbay doors, and started laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been thinking about this idea since we first saw the uniform PJs in season 1!  
> Just a little nonsense but hope you've enjoyed and thanks as always for reading  
> LHA x  
> @LHA_again


End file.
